08/10/2008

Trapattoni Reveals Squad Shake-Up For Qualifier

The ever-unpredictable Ireland manager has revealed that his squad for the Cyprus qualifier is to include some twists and turns.

Giovanni Trapattoni has revealed that Paul McShane is set to make his first start of the World Cup qualifying campaign next week against Cyprus.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Italian Republic of Ireland Manager said he had only to decide on how to allocate the right-back and centre-half roles between the Dubliner and John O'Shea.

Damien Duff will return to the squad as expected, having helped his in crisis club team, Newcastle, end their run of five successive defeats at the weekend.

The Duffer missed the win over Georgia and the draw in Montenegro through injury and is expected to bring recent strong form to the team, which has looked progressively more confident through the recent campaign.

Despite a draw at Montenegro, fans and pundits have taken heart at the organisation and confidence Trapattoni has so far brought to the squad, and are waiting to see if the ex-AC Milan and Juventus manager can turn Ireland's new found balance into results.

There is also some residual pressure following yesterday's publication of the latest Fifa world rankings, which show Ireland holding at 38, just under Lithuania 37, Chile who are at 36, and Northern Ireland who are presently ranked 35 at the world.

Trapattoni has named a panel of 21 for the match, which will be played at Croke Park, but the squad is dangerously short on defensive options at full-back, with Steve Finnan and Stephen Kelly ruled out through injury.

The Italian will still be without the missed holding midfielder Steven Reid who has failed to overcome the knee injury that has kept him on the bench at Blackburn recently.

Steven Ireland also remains absent from the squad following media reports in 2007 that he had lied about the death of his grandmother to visit his girlfriend, missing a crunch match against the Czech Republic.

Republic of Ireland squad : Goalkeepers: S Given (Newcastle Utd), D Kiely (West Brom), J Murphy (Scunthorpe Utd)

Defenders: A Bruce (Ipswich Town), D Delaney (QPR), R Dunne (Manchester City), K Kilbane (Wigan Athletic), J O'Brien (Bolton), J O'Shea (Manchester Utd), P McShane (Sunderland - on loan at Hull City)

Midfielders: S Hunt (Reading), A McGeady (Celtic), D Duff (Newcastle Utd), L Miller (Sunderland), A Reid (Sunderland), G Whelan (Stoke City)

Forwards: K Doyle (Reading), R Keane (Liverpool), A Keogh (Wolves), S Long (Reading), D Murphy (Sunderland)

(DW)


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